The Dark Hero
by Createology
Summary: Mentally insane high school junior, Jack Bruce, has got some issues: Bullies, teachers, life, etc. But, his biggest problem occurs when he's confronted by a shadowy figure and transformed into an invisible masked superhuman.
1. One

Chapter 1

High school is supposed to be four of the hardest years of school in a person's lifetime, right? With students roaming the wrecked corridors of Roosevelt High, bullies walking around shoving others into lockers, dunking their heads into toilets, and starting brutal fights, getting themselves suspended or even expelled. And then, there's me. My name is Jack Bruce. I've got brown hair that looks like someone had dumped a bowl of melted milk chocolate onto my head and let it dry there, blue eyes that look like they were made from the blue of the sky itself and my posture, well, I wear a hooded jacket that's covered with dirt and smells of something rancid that it's unidentifiable, and my jeans sag somewhat as I walk the halls to class with the knee holes only getting larger and larger the more I wear them. And I bet you already know about my social life due to my mental illness, by that I mean insanity. There are a couple of people who seem to _hate_ me a whole lot, but I don't really care if they hate me because I also know they fear me since they know I've got bad, _really_ bad, anger issues. My teacher Cyrus Johnson, dirty blond hair reminding me of the dirt of this Earth, his hazel eyes, which make me think of hazelnuts of all things, and he's well-structured but imperfect facial features. (I'm a bit surprised he hasn't gotten a date yet.) He has a small mole on his chin, and a few freckles across his cheeks. I'm pretty sure he only dislikes me because of my mental illness. And then there's Michael Canada. The school's bullying king. He's got short brown hair, forest green eyes, and a strong jaw line that doesn't look like it belongs to Michael's face. He's proud of being the biggest and meanest of all of them. I'm obviously his favorite victim, especially during lunch break. Every time I go into the cafeteria, he catches me and attempts to break me down. Has he ever succeeded at doing so? Actually, no, he has not. I've beaten him at every fight he's gotten me into and I think I must have a gift for self-defense or something.

Anyway, I do have a couple of friends, and I even have myself a girlfriend. Her name is Emily 'Jewel' Winston. She has long, beautiful brown hair that reminds me of chocolate, my favorite candy, she has mesmerizing blue eyes that seem to shine in the sunlight and she has teeth as white as white can get. I've been dating Emily since freshman year in high school and it's great! We haven't kissed yet, but I'm not planning on doing so because I'm not that kind of guy who is going to kiss unless I'm married. Anyways, my other friends are John Willington, Elizabeth Marcia, and Mark Strong. John Willington is the smart one of my friends, Elizabeth is the stealthy one, currently holding a black belt in martial arts, and Mark is the strong one of my friends, being the strongest student in the school as of this year. John looks much like me except he has somewhat longer hair, braces, and a darker shade of blue for his eyes. Mark looks like a polar opposite of me. He has short black hair gelled into a mo-hawk, small dark brown eyes, and a very strong facial structure. (He might even be able to break a brick in half with his jaw with how strong it is.) Elizabeth looks like she could possibly be related to Emily. She's got the same eyes, nose and mouth, but her hair is longer and somewhat darker. It's not as smooth though like Emily's is.

Is it creepy to know this kind of stuff about your friends? No, technically. Unless you decide to creepily watch their every move as go to class, sit through class, and then leave to the next. Not that I do that or anything, but my teacher Cyrus, (obviously) thinks I do so. (Now that I think about it, I wonder if Cyrus has been stalking me this whole time. Now I'm kind of freaked out.) Oh, it's 11:50. I'd better get to… Someone suddenly grabs my shoulder and turns me around. "Hey, what the…?" Of course, like always, it was Michael. "What's up, Jacky? You ready for what I've got special for you today?" I decided to mess with him a bit. Good way to stall. "Is it the burrito special? Because I'll be in the restroom a while if I eat any of those bean bombs." Michael looked infuriated, like always.

"No! I was thinking more of a swirly!" Michael replied.

"Ooh! I _love_ ice cream! Where're we going?" I responded.

Michael lets out an exasperated sigh as he says, "A place I like to call 'Jacky on the spot!'" Michael tugged me towards the bathroom. I just let him because I had the perfect plan in mind to make sure he didn't harm me. Michael slammed the bathroom door open, kicked open a stall door and, _thud!_ I got him right in his special spot. "That's what I call a 'Johnny on the spot!'" I jumped around him and kicked him towards the toilet and watched as he fell head first into the toilet. I hurried to the lunch cafeteria while he still had his head stuck in the toilet seat. Luckily, I made through lunch without seeing him again. Although, I didn't quite make it through lunch itself very well. It turns out, the burrito special was the special of the day and the rancid smell of the beans and the grisly texture made me so queasy I almost thought I was going to puke my stomach out the burrito hit it so badly.

1:00, time to head to my math class. Math is probably my second least favorite subject, since I'm not all too good at it. My absolute least favorite is History. It's too much to remember for me without getting a headache. But if I want to go to college, then I'm going to have to get good grades. Although, my lowest grade I've ever actually gotten this year was a C+. I got that grade, obviously, from History. My highest grade, an A+, I got in Science and English. For Math, I got an A- as my highest grade, which is a pretty good grade. I'm trying to bring my grades up to A+ so that I can get into better colleges. I want to major in Computer science and Technology, which explains why I get almost straight As in Science.

 _Ding! Ding! Ding!_ 1:15, Math class has started.

Today in Math class, I'm learning basic Calculus and simple Calculus equations. I think I've got the basics down and I'm just going to pray that God will be with me and that I am able to at least get a passing grade. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I'm a Christian. I believe that Jesus died for my sins. (How could I have forgotten to mention that before? Forgive me Lord.) I bring my Bible to school, read it whenever I can, I pray before lunch, even if I end up getting in trouble, and I pray for others, even if they don't ask me to. "Alright, class. Take out your textbooks and open them up to Chapter 5, page 79. We'll be continuing to learn more about the basics of Calculus and how to solve equations involving Calculus." My teacher Harriet Swan commanded to all the students. Harriet Swan is about 27 years old; she has short blond hair, dull gray eyes, a face practically coated in freckles, and teeth as white as snow, literally. Some students seem to like her. So far there hasn't been a single student she doesn't like.

1:45, time for the Math test.

 _God, I pray that I get through this test calmly and get at least a passing grade._ I pray to myself before I begin the test. Ms. Swan hands out the test papers to everyone and there's that first question just waiting for me to answer it: 'Write your legal name here.' I'm already starting to worry a bit, as I skim through the papers; I find that there are a total of 35 questions. I carefully write my legal name, Jack Bruce, and move on to the next question. I can feel myself getting ready to sweat; I calm myself and breathe deeply. The room smells vaguely like mangoes. Mangoes are my favorite fruit, so breathing deeply seems to have helped me get through the first 5 questions.

2:27, I finally finished my test and I hesitantly give it to Ms. Swan to grade. My anxiety is making me start to quiver and my mental illness is slowly getting to me, making me want to run, or scream, or fight, or do something unpredictable. Before I know it, Ms. Swan hands me my papers and as I read the grade, I literally jump in the air with such joy, I shouted 'Thank you, God!' right in the middle of class, and I didn't even care that I said that with everyone listening. I speed out of the classroom and through the corridors to find my friend, John, since he took the test earlier. I make a right turn, nearly running into several students whom I didn't recognize. And there he is. He spots me and we both run up to each other and I say, "John, you will not believe what I just got on my Math test!"

"Did you get that A+ that you wanted?" John asked, as if he already knew what the grade was before I even showed it to him.

"Yes! What did you get on yours?"

"Same grade as you." He grins.

"You're so predictable when it comes to getting good grades."

"I know." There was a silence for a brief moment, until John breaks it. "So, how are the rest of your classes going?"

"They are going quite swell, if I do say so myself."

"That's good. Oh! The coolest thing happened in Chemistry class today!"

"Did something go awry or what?"

"Heck, yes! When my partner and I started to make our mixture, my partner accidentally grabbed Plutonium instead of Phosphorus, and so, when he added it into the mixture with Mercury, the second the two made contact, the bottle of mixture literally exploded!"

"Dude, that's insane! How did the teacher feel about that?"

"She looked like she was about to have a heart attack or something she was so frightened by the explosion."

"Geez, I'm a bit surprised you didn't get detention or sent to the principal's office for that."

"Well, the explosion was a complete accident. The teacher knew that we didn't mean to add Plutonium instead of Phosphorus, so, she let it slide."

"Lucky, whenever I do something on accident, I get called out on it and I get sent to the principal's office or detention; it might be because of my mental illness is why I get in trouble. They must not think I have control over it."

"Well, we both know that you do have control over your illness, which is excellent. Several people who are mentally ill usually have a hard time controlling themselves unlike you."

"That's true. Although, I do sometimes have a hard time like today when my teacher, Ms. Swan, was grading my test papers, I could feel my illness trying to break free and take control of me, but thankfully, that didn't happen."

"That's good to hear. Well, I got to head to English, so, I'll talk to you later. By the way congratulations on getting 100% on your test."

"Thanks, congrats to you, too." Then he left. I looked at my test papers once more and thanked God for being with me during my test and then I headed for my last class for the day; History.


	2. Two

Chapter 2

Today in History, I got to learn more about the life of a young Russian named Lena Brodsky who moved to America when she was, I think, 14 or 15, I already forgot.

3:30, time for me to go home, which I forgot to mention, is in the mountains. Why do I live in the mountains? Well, because my parents are assumed to be dead and my other relatives don't live nearby. I go to school because the money my parents had left went towards this year of high school for me. The last time I saw my parents I was 15 and they told me that they were going to be going on a business trip in Europe to try and join with another company. The plane they flew in crashed and when a group of tourists found the plane, they reported no survivors. They said all they saw was the burning plane and no bodies. The disappearance of my parents may possibly be the reason why I have my mental illness. But, God must have decided it was time for them to come home with Him; up to Heaven.

My home, on Earth, is Deadrock Mountain. The place reeks of smoke, looks just as bad, and there's no grass anywhere or even any animals for that matter, hence the name, Deadrock Mountain. I've got no company up in Deadrock Mountain, except God, and he keeps me feeling joyful even when times are tough.

 _Boom! Boom! Boom!_

It's thundering? But, there are hardly any clouds in the sky. The sudden thunder came again, but this time even louder than the first.

 _Boom! Boom! Boom!_

Just then, a shadowy figure appears maybe 3 yards away from me, just standing there. I take my backpack off of my back, set it down, and go examine the mysterious and ominous figure. I stop myself in my tracks when I'm only 3 feet from the figure and the figure swiftly opens its eyes. They are a bright and glowing red, staring right into my eyes, probably into my mind as well. The figure also had pitch black claws and its facial features were, well, kind of cloudy. (See what I did there?) The figure then started speaking, "I am the Shadow. And I am here to make myself an army of shadow soldiers." I just stared at him and said, "That's really the best you got?"

"Well, yes, I guess so. I would have said something about taking over the city but I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"If you're a villain, you're _supposed_ to make the victim feel uncomfortable. Haven't you seen the movies?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay, anyways, no, I don't want to be a part of your shadow army of anything and I don't want to help some villain take over the city, so, good luck finding someone who _is_ willing to do so."

"Oh, don't worry. I already have." The Shadow flies towards me and stabs its right claw into my heart. The pain I felt was excruciating, unbearable. As I take my last few breaths, I watch the Shadow disappear into thin air like a large dust ball being sucked into God's vacuum. I figured that thing would have turned me into a shadow soldier anyways because that's what happens quite often in the movies I've seen. But it looks like he might have killed me instead of turning me into a shadow soldier. Maybe God wants me to come home, or God is thinking my time isn't up yet and he'll bring me back to life. My lifeless body just lay there and I can only trust that God has a plan for me.

The Next day…

It has been almost an entire 24 hours since I've been killed by the Shadow and nothing has happened just yet. I haven't seen the light, no angels, no gates to Heaven or Hell, nothing. My body is still laid on the ground, continuing to stay lifeless.

 _Thump._

Wait, is that what I'm praying it is?

 _Thump. Thump._

My heart, it's… it _is_ beating! God must have wanted me to live longer! But wait a minute… my vision… all of the things around me look darker. I must be wearing a mask! I look at the bottom of the mask, or shoulder piece, which was cut into spike shapes, was red. And my left arm, it feels… like air. It feels like my left arm has been replaced by a cloud. I look at my left arm… I yell in terror. But I don't have a mouth on my mask. And my arm looks exactly like the Shadow's! But, my mental illness, my anger inside me is strong and I can feel it about to burst out. My eyes, I noticed, glowed just like the Shadow's as well, but I don't have eyeballs. My eyes are on my mask. They were a blue-violet color because I was scared. Now, they are in the shapes of frowns and they are a glowing red, meaning I am angry.

Before I even think about what I'm doing, I run back to the city and I found myself running towards the city bank. I am running faster than I have ever done in my life. I thought I was going to fall over from how fast I ran, but I kept my balance and I made it to the bank. I stood outside of the bank, trying to regain control over my mind, but my anger, my rage, was all too powerful at the moment. I kicked the entrance doors wide open and furiously stomped towards the desk. The clerk was aghast and he hid under the counter. As I approached the counter, I could hear a familiar sound.

 _Click. Click._

Then I heard a fear-stricken voice, "Please, sir! Don't hurt us! Leave now or I'll call the police!" The voice came from the clerk. The clerk slowly came out from under the counter and stood up, aiming his Revolver at my chest. Before I could even react, I swiftly kicked the gun into the air and caught it with my right hand. I aimed the gun at the clerk's head and said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not the smartest thing to do when you're being robbed. Now, take me to the vault or I'll blow your brain across the walls!" I continue to aim the gun at the clerk's head as he takes me to the bank's vault located in a secret room at the other end of the building. The place looked like any ordinary bank. The front desk was neat; there were chairs and even cubicles. The place smelled like, well, I can't answer that because I couldn't smell a thing. When we made it to the vault, the clerk just stopped and did nothing, which infuriated me. "What are you waiting for? Open the vault!" I shouted, holding the gun to the clerk's head.

"Okay, okay. I'll unlock the vault for you." The clerk walks over to the vault, which was password protected. The clerk typed in a code to unlock the vault but something else happened. _Beep! Beep! Beep!_ That clerk had set off the alarms and contacted the police instead of opening the vault. I glare at the clerk viciously. "Why you little…"

 _Thud!_ I feel myself stumble slightly after the clerk had punched me across the face and run off. I aimed my gun at his head but he had made it out of the store too quickly for me to make a shot. _Well, that's just great. Now I've got to try and escape without getting caught by the police._ I thought to myself before I started running for the door. Suddenly, I hear the sound of sirens not too far from where I'm standing. I run as fast as I can out the door, but I'm too late, of course. A tall and muscular police officer steps out of one of the three cars and shouts, "Drop the gun and put your hands in the air!" I drop my gun, but all I do is stare afterwards. The police officer seemed to be losing his patience. "I said, put your hands in the air! We have you surrounded!" I just watch the police officer keep his finger off the trigger and I just let out slight chuckle. "Well, when you put it like that, no." I grab the gun and suddenly, I start flying.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

 _Are they seriously shooting at me right now?_ All I can hear now are the intense sounds of gunfire and the sound of the bullets flying by.

 _Thud!_

 _What the…?_ I've been shot in the shoulder of my right arm. I can feel blood running out onto my arm and I fly off back to Deadrock Mountain to see if I can apply pressure and figure out a way to heal.

 _Oh, man. I'm feeling dizzy. I can't fall to the ground._ The pain in my shoulder was screwing up my flying skills drastically. I could barely control, let alone keep myself awake I've lost so much blood. I landed safely, although I fell to the ground as soon as I made contact with the ground. I grabbed my jacket and my backpack which were lying right next to each other. I opened up my backpack and pulled out my tweezers I got from my Science class. I pulled up my shirt sleeve and cautiously attempted to pull the bloody bullet out of my shoulder.

 _Squish!_ I successfully got the bullet out but the wound started bleeding even more. I wrapped my jacket around the bleeding wound tightly and held it in place and lie down on the ground. My eyes are turning gray, probably meaning I'm tired. They match the color of the dull, gloomy sky. I thought it was going to rain since it looked so stormy in the clouds. The single thought running through my mind at the moment was ' _I'm very blessed to still be alive. God could've had me die from getting shot in the heart or die from excessive blood loss, but he must still need me alive. God must still have a mission for me that I need to accomplish. But for now, I need to rest for awhile so that my flesh wound can heal._ " Thinking so much just made my head start to hurt a bit and it made me just want to fall asleep on the soft, slick grass. I just wanted to make my own grass pillow and fall asleep and just forget that I just recently attempted to rob a bank, had police start shooting at me for trying to rob the bank, and I ended up getting shot in the shoulder.

I've been wondering how the school has been doing without me. What if my teachers are calling the police and having them search for me? What if they are panicking and having the entire school search for me? Or they might be celebrating me being gone so they all don't have to deal with me and my mental illness. Or, what if the Shadow has gotten to my school? What if he has turned my friends into shadow soldiers? Or even worse, what if the Shadow has turned my enemies into shadow soldiers? I'd be in grave danger if I had to confront a shadow soldier that used to be my friend, or my teacher, or even my enemy. Now with _this_ thought stuck in my head, all I want to do is find my friends, since I know where they live and where they like to hang out at, and see if they've been turned into whatever I've been turned into, and also, track down the Shadow and defeat him before he's gotten to everyone I know. Worst case scenario is that, yes, he _has_ already gotten everyone I know, but I'm not going to let my negative thoughts get the best of me. First thing I'm going to do tomorrow is search for my friends and form my own group to take down the Shadow.

As I was thinking about all of the things I could do with my friends to take down the Shadow, I had, without realizing it, fallen into a slumber.


	3. Three

Chapter 3

Last night I had dreamt of nothing. My mind was as black as night, all night long. Not one single thought or dream had come into my mind. Not until today when I first woke up. The first thing I thought about, after praying and talking to God, was searching for my friends. The friend I decided to search for first was my girlfriend Emily 'Jewel' since she can recognize me in anything, mainly by my unique voice and my behavior. Emily likes to hang out in this playground area whenever she's feeling depressed or anything. And that's also the place where I go to comfort her and be with her so she doesn't feel lonely. The playground isn't too far from where I live, the main reason why Emily hangs out there so often. That's where I ran to first. After running for a few short minutes, I realized that I could have just flown to the playground instead of wasting time running and using up so much energy. When I arrived at the playground, not a single sound was to be heard except the flow of the wind whistling in my ears. Not a single being to be seen anywhere, not in the trees, not on the playground, not on any of the benches nearby, nowhere.

 _Snap!_

Hold up. Someone was around somewhere I could feel in my gut. And also I heard the sound of branches snapping. Then a calm but mysterious voice called out, "Who do you think you are? Flying here like just some careless idiot." The voice said. I was slightly upset that the voice had said that but I knew that it was Emily's voice immediately. "Look, Emily, I know you're probably scared right now. Is it because of my mask? Or are you afraid of me seeing you?" There was a short silence and she spoke up, "Two days ago, I saw this shadowy figure that called itself the Shadow and it asked me to join its army of shadow soldiers and I refused and then, it still stabbed me in the chest and I died. The next day, I was turned into whatever I am right now!" Emily's eyes were blue, clearly she was upset. She started crying and came out from some building just feet away from where I stood at the moment. She walked up to me and hugged me tight. "It was awful. I thought I was actually going to stay dead!" She said as she continued crying.

"Look, Emily, I know how you feel, but look, you're safe now. I'm here with you now and God was with you when you confronted the Shadow, He was with you when you refused the Shadow's offer and he killed you, and God was even with you when you died and He brought you back to life. See? You're blessed to be alive right now, because who knows, our friends might be dead right now or they might not be. We won't know until we find them." I replied.

Emily's eyes go from a deep blue to an aqua green color, she's probably getting happier now, but she's still feeling a bit upset. "Okay. I saw John not too long ago and then he went looking for you at the city bank. Word on the street is that you're known as a supernatural criminal to the people here now."

"That's just what I need right now; to be a supernatural, flying, telekinetic criminal. If I get caught then I'll just have to try and reason with them, and if they don't cooperate then, there's going to be a problem. But in the meantime, we'd better go get John before he leaves the bank. And after we find him and the others, we'll go after the Shadow."

Without arguing or hesitating, Emily and I immediately flew to the bank to search for John. It took about two minutes to get to the bank via flying but when we arrived we didn't just see John, there was another figure there with a mask just like mine and Emily's and even John's, except mine is red, John's is blue, Emily's is green, and the other person's is purple. The purple mask guy and john were in a fist fight. The two were throwing punches, landing punches, dodging punches, etc. When the purple guy noticed Emily and me, John threw a powerful punch into the purple guy's head, knocking him down.

"Hey! John!" I shouted as Emily and I landed. John instantly ran up to us and gave us vigorous hugs as his eyes changed from red to green.

"You guys will not believe who that guy is!" John exclaimed while his eyes changed from green to orange.

"Well, who is that guy you were fighting?" Emily asked.

"That guy I was fighting was Michael." John replied.

"The Shadow just _had_ to kill Michael and turn _him_ into one of us. I'm seriously going to take down the Shadow as soon as I get the chance to." My eyes started turning red and the purple guy, or Michael, lifted his head and slowly stood back on his feet.

"Hey! Who do you think you are? Are you friends with little John here?" Michael asked. His eyes were blazing red with fury. I almost thought his eyes were going to literally pop like dead light bulbs he was so furious.

"As a matter of fact, we are friends with John. So if you don't mind, we'd like to take him back with us." I said.

"Sorry, no can do. The Shadow ordered me to capture John and take him back to the Shadow's lair."

"Well then, Michael. Before I go insane and unleash my epic powers on you, you might want to reconsider taking our friend here."

"Let me think about that. Sorry, _Jack_!" Michael swings a backhand and I go flying through the bank doors and I crash into a wall strongly and fall to the ground behind the counter. Emily charges at Michael and punches him through a wall in a nearby thrift store. Emily walks into the thrift store to get Michael but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Emily decided to stay quiet to make sure if Michael was nearby, he wouldn't hear her coming. John just stayed outside still recovering from his fight with Michael. As Emily walked down the women's T-shirt aisle, she heard a light sound, almost like breathing. She stayed cautious as she turned around to see if anyone was behind her. There was Michael holding a long metal bar about to hit Emily in the head. Michael swings the bar down, but Emily was quick enough to catch it in her hand. Emily kicks Michael in the armpit to make him release the metal bar. After Michael released the bar Emily roundhouse-kicked him across the face, but prior to trying to kick him down, Michael tripped Emily and kicked the metal bar out of her hands. Emily jumped back onto her feet as does Michael. Michael threw a punch at Emily but Emily caught his fist, twisted his arm and kicked him aside. Emily tried to run, although Michael grabbed her foot and the metal bar. Michael held the metal bar in the air ready to swing it into Emily.

 _Bang!_

Michael dropped the metal bar and started screaming in pain as his hand began to bleed from my gunshot since I still had the pistol in my back pocket from when I tried to rob the bank. Emily then kicked Michael in the crotch and then the face, knocking him down. His eyes going from red to black, meaning he passed out. Emily's eyes went from red to an orange-green hybrid. She was obviously exhausted from fighting but she was happy she defeated Michael, for now. I ran up to her, after I turned the gun's safety on, and gave her a hug. I asked if Emily was okay, she said yes. Now I just had to deal with Michael. I walked over to him as he was attempting to get up. I pulled him onto his feet and spoke, "Alright, Mike. Here's the deal. You're going to tell us where to find our friends Elizabeth and Mark are as well as where the Shadow's lair is located, if you fail to cooperate…" I looked around and spotted a shiny katana just sitting on the checkout counter, so I extended my arm and concentrated hard, the katana was shaking and it flew quickly into my hand, but when I gripped tightly onto the sword's handle, it started sparking and bolts of electricity began to travel along the sword from the tip to the handle piece. Amazed at what I had done, I continued speaking, "As I was saying, if you fail to cooperate, then I'm going to take your head. Are we clear?" Michael slowly nodded his head in agreement.

"Now tell me, where the heck are Elizabeth and Mark at?" I asked impatiently.

"They're – They're at the – the City's Tae Kwon Do and the, uh, the Ring. You should already know where those are at since – since you've been to both of those places before many, many times." Michael answered and then laughed. He must be going crazy after all of the fighting he's done with Emily and John, but there were no visible bruises or marks on him that I spotted or noticed. I let go of Michael, satisfied with the answer he gave Emily and me, and we went outside to tell John the news that Michael had given us, only to find, he wasn't outside the thrift store anymore. Emily and I searched and even called out to him and we got no response. Someone probably captured him; I'm putting my money on the Shadow. That or, I'm hoping this is wrong, but John could be working for the Shadow as well.

I wondered why God brought Michael back to life since he's never been nice to me or done any good deeds, but who knows; he just might change his ways and turn to God since he's not a believer. Maybe in the end, he'll turn against the Shadow and join my team. But for now, Emily and I must find Elizabeth and Mark _and_ now John. At least we know where to look first for Elizabeth. She used to train at the City's Tae Kwon Do daily before and after she earned her black belt. Her black belt means pretty much everything to her since she always wanted to learn the arts of self-defense.

And Mark, since he's the strongest student in school, constantly trained at his favorite wrestling and boxing building known as 'The Ring.' That's why he's so strong. That makes me wonder how Mark dealt with the Shadow; if he was able to actually fight him or he just went through the Shadow whenever he threw a punch or something.

Emily and I decided to just fly over to the Tae Kwon Do to see if we can find Elizabeth there, if we're lucky enough or just end up going to the Tae Kwon Do just to find that Elizabeth had left the place just like John had left Emily and me. As Emily and I continue to fly, we spot the Tae Kwon Do and another masked person. The mask color was forest green and the person wore a black belt, Emily and I immediately knew that the masked person was Elizabeth.


	4. Four

Chapter 4

As Emily and I landed near the City's Tae Kwon Do, Elizabeth was just about to begin her training in front of the entrance of the building. It was clear she knew we were there; she had just made sure to concentrate on her training instead of on us, so Emily and I just watched as she did her training. As Emily and I watched her train more, we started talking, quiet enough to not distract Elizabeth but loud enough to be able to hear each other.

"I've always wondered why Elizabeth keeps practicing even though she already has a black belt; she must think she has to have perfect self-defense skills or something." I started.

"Well, practice does make perfect doesn't it?" Emily stated.

"It does… sometimes."

"What do mean by 'sometimes?'"

"What I mean is sometimes practice doesn't always make perfect, no matter how hard you try. Like for me, no matter how hard I try to study History, I still only get Cs and sometimes Bs."

"Well, you maybe don't practice often enough or hard enough."

"Maybe, but God gives different people different passions for certain things, like God gave me a passion for Chemistry and Science."

"I believe God gave me a passion for music since I like to play the keyboard, piano, and the guitar."

"I also think God gave me a passion for music because I'm pretty good with the keyboard and a synthesizer."

"I still remember you wanting to start your own band with you being the lead male singer and the Synth machine player and/or keyboarder. I was going to be the lead keyboarder and lead female singer. John was going to be the lead electric guitar player and Elizabeth was going to be the back-up electric guitar player. And Mark was going to be the drummer. Those were the good days. I even remember us practicing in the garage at my house and we would end up playing so loud the whole neighborhood could hear us!"

"Yeah, those were the good days. Now look at us. We're supernatural shadow things with masks, glowing eyes, and excellent fighting skills."

"We'll just have to make the best of what we have now. Use it for good instead for whatever our selfish sides want."

Just as we finished our little conversation, Elizabeth had stopped training and just stopped almost perfectly still. It was like she had just been turned into a statue or something. Emily and I walk up to her, and she flinches and steps aside, staring at us, her eyes glowing the same blue-violet color mine were when I first became whatever I am. Believe it or not, even though our eyes weren't the same color as Elizabeth's, we were just as fearful as she was at the moment. Elizabeth had an electric katana just like mine I was still holding, blazing on her back like a campfire ablaze upon a stack of logs. I miss the old days when my friends and I would just decide to go camping up in Deadrock Mountain, which is now my home of course. My friends and I have made many memories camping in Deadrock Mountain like John attempting to catch a fish with his bare hands and it ended up dragging him upstream several hundred feet before he finally got it onto land just by simply throwing it to my friends and me. There was this other time when I was trying to set up one of those tree traps in case someone tried to trespass onto our camping ground, instead I ended up walking into the trap. It snatched me up like a bullfrog swallowing fat flies.

Elizabeth had her left hand, since she isn't right handed, her right arm was her shadow arm, on the handle of her katana as if Emily and I were going to assault her or have some others ambush her, but she was always pretty cautious when she wasn't the shadow thing she is now. I wonder if she actually recognized us at all or if she thought we were some of the shadow soldiers working for the Shadow. Either way, Emily and I approached her carefully, hoping not to make a wrong move. "Lizzy, it's us, Emily and Jack, your friends from high school. Listen to me, I know how you feel right now, trust me. The Shadow, as you can see, got Emily and me as well. John and probably Mark got attacked by the Shadow and turned into whatever we are. But sadly, that guy Michael also got caught but he works for the Shadow. He has a purple mask just in case you run into someone who may seem like Michael."

Elizabeth just stared at me as if she were trying to find what words to say without sounding ridiculous. "Why would the Shadow-thing turn us into this?"

"That's exactly what we're going to find out as soon as we find where John ran off to and after we find Mark. I'm guessing Mark's at the Ring?" I commented.

"He might be at this time of day, but we won't know for sure unless we go see for ourselves." Elizabeth replied. And that's exactly what we did.

As we Elizabeth, Emily, and I flew towards the Ring, which was downtown, I could hear a familiar voice in my head. _Must… search… allies… destroy…_ Those were the only words I could make out but then I heard another voice; it sounded like the Shadow's. Both voices suddenly became clear enough for me to make out the words. What I was heard was, "How could you have lost them?! They were right there in your hands! What the heck went wrong?!" This was definitely the Shadow's voice.

"Listen to me, sir. I had John held hostage until Jack and his friend Emily showed up. How the heck am I supposed to fight off two people at once without any weapons?" I believe this is Michael since it sounds just like him.

"You use that darned brain of yours and figure it out yourself! Where the heck are Jack and Emily heading now?"

"They are going to the Ring to find their friend, Mark. That guy's going to be a real pain in the butt to fight."

"What you state is true. I'm going to send CY the Cybosapien to go after them so that you can get stronger for when I'll need you again."

"All right, sir."

"CY the Cybosapien, I demand to see you!"

"Yes, Shadow sir?" CY the Cybosapien said, apparently my teacher Cyrus has been turned into a robot. That's just what I need. Not only that but he also works for the Shadow which is even worse news for me.

"I need you to go to the Ring and destroy Jack and his friends immediately!"

"Yes sir."

The voices stopped just as my friends and I landed in front of the Ring. The Ring was surrounded by several buildings, one being a coffee shop, another being a gaming store, and most of the others being clothing or thrift stores. My friends and I peeked inside the building and found an invisible-masked person, who was very muscular, just like Mark, and his mask was grass green color, but his eyes were glowing red as he violently punched the punching bag hanging from the weary ceiling in front of him. He continued to punch even when we tried to call out to him; it's almost as if he was hypnotized or was in a zone of some sort. I decided to be brave and walk up to him cautiously to see what was up. I placed my hand on his shoulder and he instantly looked at me like I've awaken him up from his little daze. "Mark, are you all right, brother?" I asked calmly. Mark shook his head and replied, "Jack? The Shadow got you, too?"

"Yes, Mark, and the Shadow got Emily, Elizabeth, and John as well. But unfortunately, the Shadow even got Michael and Cyrus and they work for it."

"Well, you said they got John as well, right? Then, where is he?"

"He _was_ with us when we tried to get him and we ended up running into Michael and then, John ran off."

"He was being a little scaredy cat is what it sounds like."

"Exactly, and we absolutely need to find him before the Shadow, Michael, or Cyrus do. So, we would like you to join us in our search for John and the Shadow's lair so we can take him down. Care to accept our invitation?"

"Definitely if it means taking down the Shadow and saving lives while doing it!" Mark answered with an answer that seemed a bit rehearsed.

 _Whir._ The sound of a robot silenced everyone momentarily. We kept quiet to see if we could hear the noise again. _Whir, whir, whir,_ it sounded like a robot walking and it was only getting louder and clearer by the second. My friends and I looked towards the entrance and saw a robot. Well, to be precise, a Cy-Borg, which is a half-man, half-robot type of being. The left half of its body was human and the right half was robot. Its robot body had glowing red, robotic eyes, a variety of guns located in its arm, and what appear to be rocket boosters built into its leg and foot. This must be the same thing that the Shadow was talking to, telling it to destroy us!

"I think I should have told all of you this before, but I could hear the Shadow talking somewhere distant and it told a certain robot named CY the Cybosapien to come after us and destroy us." All of my friends look at me with their eyes all glowing red; I figured they were probably mad at me for not telling them such information prior to the Cy-Borg showing up. The Cy-Borg silenced us by speaking. "I am CY the Cybosapien. I have been sent here by the Shadow to annihilate Jack and his friends." CY scans us and beings beeping like a fire alarm. "Target located. Proceed to annihilation of target." CY's robot arm started forming a gun of some kind, a Revolver hopefully, if anything, I'm just hoping it doesn't form a machine gun or Gatling gun or even worse, a missile launcher. My friends and I readied our weapons, my electric katana and pistol, Elizabeth's electric katana, Mark's fists, and Emily's electric metal bar she decided to keep from that fight with Michael at the thrift store.

"Now look here, CY, or should I say, Mr. Cyrus Johnson, we can either do this the easy way, the medium way, the hard way, the impossible way, the evil way, the holy way, the ridiculous way, the logical way, the scientifically inaccurate way, or the rational way." I think some of those words might have meant the same as some of the others, but I couldn't help myself but see if I had made CY malfunction or not. By the looks of it, I possibly might have done just that.

"Well, Jack Bruce. I would like to choose… the deadly way!" CY exclaimed, but I decided to interrupt him for a fantastic reason.

"Hold on a second. That wasn't one of the choices! You can't choose the deadly way because I didn't list that as one of your options to choose from! Why couldn't you at least have chosen the impossible way or the scientifically inaccurate way? Or better yet, why couldn't you have chosen the holy way?" I argued. CY the Cybosapien literally just froze staring at me trying to think of a logical reply to my rather wild comment about him choosing a non-existent option. After waiting for CY to do something, the robot forms a machine gun in its robot arm, loads it and aims it at my chest.


	5. Five

Chapter 5

As CY aimed the gun at my chest, but Mark punched it into the ground and kicked the robot out the entrance doors. CY goes flying out the doors and through the walls of the thrift store across the street from the Ring. The sound of CY smashing through the thrift store was blasting enough to make me flinch a bit. After Mark's attack on CY, I ask him, "Mark, we were supposed to take the holy way even when the enemy doesn't cooperate! Now that robot's going to think we also chose the quote-unquote 'deadly way!' Now we're going to have to fight it until we defeat it." I could practically feel my eyes turning red because I was upset with Mark for choosing to fight it instead of talking things out. Although, everyone makes mistakes at some points in their lives; my friends and I all have made mistakes in the past and we still will in the future. I know for a fact the Shadow has made a mistake turning my friends and me into whatever the heck we are.

CY the Cybosapien began to shake uncontrollably as my friends and I walked over to where the machine had crashed at. The machine kept repeating, "Destroy Jack. Destroy Jack. Destroy Jack." This machine definitely worked for the Shadow all right if it wants me destroyed.

"Well, we all know for sure now that this machine works for the Shadow. If thing continues working or whatever, then we need to figure out how to reprogram it to help us out, if that's even a possibility. Although if you think about it, it would be much easier to reprogram and fight with John since John is the electronic one of our group. And I think that if he didn't run off to wherever he ran off to, we would only be that much closer to finding the Shadow's lair and taking down the Shadow itself." I stated still feeling angry, now for multiple reasons: Mark choosing to fight instead of taking the holy way, John running away when he was supposed to join Emily and me to fight the Shadow, the Shadow turning my friends and me into invisible masked beings, etc. And now, we've got to figure out what the heck to do with CY the Cybosapien.

"Well, now what do we do?" Mark asked. We were all standing within ambushing distance of the robot, but Mark didn't know that so, the robot kicked Mark in the chest, strong enough to knock Mark off his feet and onto the ground. I take hold of the handle of my electric katana and swing it down towards the sinister robot. CY the Cybosapien caught the blade, gripping it extremely tight, and threw me against a wall. Pain covered my entire back as well as the back of my thighs. Emily and Elizabeth both kick CY the Cybosapien backwards down a men's jeans aisle. CY the Cybosapien still had its machine gun out, locked and loaded. The robot aimed it at Emily and Elizabeth and started frenetically shooting bullets at the two. Emily ran to the right and Elizabeth ran to the left of CY the Cybosapien. CY the Cybosapien proceeded shooting at Emily and Elizabeth as they ran in opposite directions. CY then aimed his machine gun at just Elizabeth. Mark got to his feet swiftly and uppercut CY the Cybosapien before he could fire a bullet at Elizabeth. CY flew upward and hit a light on the ceiling, electrocuting him temporarily. When CY began to fall, Mark kicked him backward into another wall. CY the Cybosapien began to malfunction and shake once again. After recovering much longer than I should have, I walked over to CY the Cybosapien's shuddering body. CY the Cybosapien's eyes were red and said 'ERROR' in them as they flashed the word repeatedly as the body continued to tremble.

"I'm placing my money on 'it's going to surprise attack me any second now.'" I said.

As I predicted, CY the Cybosapien stopped flashing the word 'ERROR' and kicked me backwards into Mark. Mark and I were unharmed, but the machine was well beyond healed from being punched backwards into the wall, somehow. CY the Cybosapien transformed its machine gun into a missile launcher and loaded it. The size of the missiles CY was going to shoot at Mark and me were epic. They could probably be used as footballs or soccer balls. As CY aimed its missiles at Mark and me, I heard a _ka-shing!_ CY the Cybosapien started shaking, once again, but this time, CY fell forward onto the ground with Elizabeth's electric sword lodged in its back. Sparks flew out of the malfunctioning robot's body as Mark and I got onto our feet, hoping that CY the Cybosapien is _finally_ defeated. Emily and Elizabeth walked over to Mark and me and waited for another ambush, if CY the Cybosapien was planning on doing so again. CY the Cybosapien is somewhat unpredictable in my opinion. It will shoot at you when you least expect it too and it will completely shut down when you expect it to attack again. By the time Emily and Elizabeth had made it to the powered down machine, I already had my sword readied and blazing with electricity, just to be cautious. The machine stopped its little… 'Seizure,' I guess. "What's this freakish robot going to do now?" Mark asked seeming a bit exasperated.

"I've got no clue, honestly, but I'm guessing it's going to ambush us. So, just to be cautious, I'd say ready your weapons." I replied. CY the Cybosapien continued shaking for a moment longer and finally shut down completely.


End file.
